RoeTaKa

I started to gain a following because of my Dark Souls remixes. It wasn't just because people liked the music from the games and therefore were specifically only interested because I remixed the music, it's because the games developed a community which shared a love for the game in all its aspects. And that community was very grateful that I wanted to keep remixing the music in ways that weren't just musically appealing but also made them engage with the love of the games. Did I ever get as much attention from that same audience for my other remixes and original music? For the most part no, but it very much felt like my audience because of the appreciation I was given for contributing to a series we all enjoyed. I'm part of that audience too so I completely understand that. I also understand that I was lucky to be part of a very dedicated and positive community. Music is a tricky medium to get a dedicated following especially if you don't play live or gig around and stuff. Remixing and covers are really good ways to get attention from existing audiences. The difference between the two for me is that the cover is usually a faithful version of the original where as a remix can be a heightened experience with artistic influence. So of course people who want to see a cover or cover band don't want anything else from that, with remixing you can at least draw an audience based on your style that you inject into the song. Pretty much everything is about doing something that gets the attention of existing audiences. Usually music needs to be a part of something for people to take interest these days. People's love for video game soundtracks for the most part are for the love of the game and what the music brought to that, I'm sure there are several composers we think are great from games and indies that wouldn't get a lick of notice if wasn't for the game.

I'm at a point where I don't see myself remixing much in the future. It would probably only happen if I enjoyed a song in a new game so much that I felt compelled to do something with it, or perhaps if I came across an older game song where I thought I could do something creative enough with it to excite me. For now I intend to focus on my original material and perhaps take a step back from music for a break and some perspective. I still have a mentality that remixing is something cool. When I first found this site I thought "wow I never thought about this before, I wish I could do this some day!". Not all musicians can make remixes and not all remixers can make great remixes (and I suppose the opposite is true for originals). So to get to a point where your name gets our there for great remixes is a really great achievement I think, even if it surpasses the audience and respect for your original work. I think we all want our original music to be loved and enjoyed by more but it's tough - you have to get all the audience that you can. I've written music and albums inspired by games where I was more proud of that work than some of the remixes I had done for those games, but you just have to accept that a lot of people either just don't care or won't discover that music the way they discovered your remixes. That's also true for the many clones of popular video games, like there could be a great game that's very similar to Dark Souls but a majority of Souls players either don't want it or will never hear about it, because it didn't make the impact like Dark Souls did. Remixes/covers can be an awesome way to celebrate the original song and where it came from, sometimes that remix/cover even surpasses the original, that's kind of nuts to think about really. But at the heart of it remixing should be fun yknow? Unless you're tied to some project where you have to take a remix more seriously (like an official album or game). I have always seen remixing as a place to explore and train, by learning about the original music and using its foundations to test out different writing and technique. And the truth is I probably wouldn't even be writing music if it weren't for remixing.

I bought the soundtrack. A lot of nice music on here! The game looks cool too, congrats on the release, hope it does well!

If there was one more Castlevania game...the safe bet for me would be another game like Order of Ecclesia but Bloodstained could be that craving. I would love to see a 3D Castlevania done right, that is at its most faithful. I enjoyed Lament of Innocence when it came out but its level design was just bad, may as well have been procedurally generated. I tried Curse of Darkness about a year ago and I thought it was alright but the level design was killing it for me again, didn't even finish it. I always stick up for Lords of Shadow 1 as being a really good game with great music, it just isn't Castlevania...there's definitely elements that evoke the series and I really appreciate those though. Lords of Shadow 2 was a real missed opportunity, but damnit the soundtrack is awesome. The 3D Castlevania I want is pretty much Symphony of the Night, just done in 3D properly. I remember when the first Devil May Cry came out I would think to myself that if it wasn't split into missions then you have something of a decent castle location here with a metroidvania feel. It always baffled me why Konami could never at least do this. Now with games like Dark Souls and Bloodborne, I feel I want something similar in style but only taking influence - it needs to be Castlevania through and through. The story for me isn't a big deal as long as it serves the game well and gives good characters. I imagine entering a castle at night, it's very dark and it's thundering outside, some of the windows are open and the curtains are blowing in the wind, lightning is filling the room with light every now and then. There is no music, no enemies...you make some progress and get a feel for the game. Then something happens, maybe your first boss encounter or something and suddenly it brightens up, maybe all the candles suddenly light up and become active, the music kicks in with this glorious style of the old games, then suddenly you're able to explore so much more and you know this is the Castlevania you know done right. You start seeing classic enemies all gloriously modelled with their traditional attacks, maybe they have new AI patterns due to the game being 3D. Weak enemies try to mob you, large enemies vary their attack patterns. I mean...it is what it is isn't it lol, explaining the series as we know it. And if it's the type of game to have a Hard Mode Level 1 cap, I'm all for that! I particularly liked OoE's enemy mixups for that, getting through the forest at the start of the game was really fun to figure out.

This is terrific, I love the groove and the emotion from the cello and vocal together. 2:04 onwards just feels really great, with little things that keep it interesting like at 2:26 with that almost delayed effect to the cello there. This could've easily gone on for as long as 6 minutes for me.

Hey, I just released my newest album today. Something I've been working really hard on over the past month besides a couple of tracks. Almost 4 years ago I released my first proper album called 'Strings of Time' and it was this mixture of orchestra, acoustic and electronic instruments and was quite chilled out, quite emotive. This is somewhat of a sequel album and I'm really proud of it, I feel like it's some of my best production to date and a really unique album as well. Thanks for checking it out and I hope you enjoy it. It is £4 over on Bandcamp: https://alexroe.bandcamp.com/album/tides-of-time Thanks for checking it out and I hope you enjoy it.

If it interests you, I highly suggest watching DARK SOULS: The Movie by SunlightMaggot (who sadly stopped creating content). He did a fantastic job of recording the game and role playing as certain characters to re-enact their stories, as well as the Chosen Undead's journey to link the fire: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL65k1Kyrgf2O2Zb-GZ7KzT-4ov-IEuBEx Also this music video by ThePruld is a pretty great watch too, he's a cool guy:

One of my favourite things about Dark Souls is its story. Comparing it to a painting is an interesting analogy because you can come up with your own interpretations and everyone can question it a bit differently. This is what Miyazaki wants from players because he had to do the same thing when reading Western books when he was younger with limited understanding of the English language -- which led him to do the very same thing. What is more important about Dark Souls is purpose, nearly everything in that world has a reason and a why. If someone was to say they didn't like how Dark Souls portrays its story or it just wasn't for them I can completely understand that, but to say it's not a good story or there is no story that is just ignorant. I am not taking into account Dark Souls 2 by the way, it's a good game but it does not have anywhere near the depth and meaning of the first game. I'll admit that in my first playthrough of Dark Souls I didn't really observe as closely as I should have or piece up the dialogues and item descriptions because I just wasn't used to that from a game. Then when I did that in my second playthrough, it was like a whole new world opened and I was understanding how wonderful the world and its characters were. It's a very rare thing and I hope that Dark Souls 3 offers this again. I really liked Bloodborne, it's a fantastic game. I don't think it has the depth of a Dark Souls game story wise and I think there are things about that world which could have been embelished more. However it does have depth, if you haven't finished it there is quite a lot to it you probably still don't understand. I really hope the DLC adds to this and isn't just more gameplay. Artorias of the Abyss for Dark Souls I think is possibly the greatest DLC ever made and it added so much more to the lore of the game that was worth every penny.

It's quite alright it didn't come across as harsh at all. I'm fairly used to the tough love around here anyway. Honestly I do like to get pointers and tips from experienced composers that specialize in digital orchestra because I really don't personally know any. And yeah it is definitely a challenge working with a low spec computer haha. I'm so used to it, I don't even know what I'd do with a top of the range one. But I really feel what I am creating now is far more improved, perhaps if you felt like checking it out Neifion maybe you could check out my youtube in my sig? Larry, I didn't know that was possible I assumed that it would take more time and require a resub. I was only thinking of some touch ups, nothing considerable...it really depends if they're considered flaws that stand out but we'll see I suppose.

Thank you for your feedback. This was literally the first time I had used these samples and was made just over a year ago. I wish it didn't take so long for remixes to be evaluated and posted but that's the predicament. I am far more experienced in how to control these samples now. I know some of my future submissions have issues because of the lack of experience with these samples but there's nothing I can do about that unless they're rejected. My computer is still not powerful enough to use these the way I would like so I know in this song I used just the split sustain patches (at the time I had 8GB of RAM and after this I immediately got another 8GB). I also know about the legato you're talking about with the Friedlander and have gotten much more used to writing with it. As I listen now I think nearly all the legato here should be tighter. I'm sorry you weren't able to enjoy the arrangement more because of the issues you mentioned. And thanks Timaeus, I will keep trying!

You can always go help other people with their bosses. It's a win win since you get more experience at fighting the boss and you get blood echoes (as long as you win) and then you can just level up from those. Leveling up your weapon is a must just in case that was not obvious. If you haven't tried it you might want to fight more without using lock on, in some cases it gives you much more maneuverability and you can position yourself better. And dodging just before the moment the enemies attack touches you will make you invincible to it which is insanely valuable, hitboxes in this game are a lot more precise than before so you can worry less about those catching you. Like Brandon said, dodging forwards (especially with lock on) is incredibly useful since most of the time you will dodge most attacks and position yourself for some good counter attacks. Father Gascoigne is a great example of how dashing towards him during his attacks being better than any other direction, especially when his weapon transforms.

Now that I've spent quite a bit of time with the game and the hype has settled I feel like I can talk more openly about it. When I finished Dark Souls 2 I was so enveloped by it I just couldn't see why is wasn't a great sequel for a while, it's still a great game but it didn't leave any of the impressions Dark Souls did. Bloodborne thankfully has left a strong impression but not in ways I expected (I'm not gonna talk about PvP or multiplayer because it's not a big thing for me). It's a terrific action twist on the Souls combat and it never gets dull or feels like a burn, it's constantly satisfying. Every weapon feels well thought out and offers just enough variety so that you're not too disappointed that there's not a lot of them. Pretty much all the bosses are fantastic fights and the world is a joy to explore too. The atmosphere is great and the level design is pretty much all rock solid. But then there are things I am less enthusiastic about. The story and lore I found to be really interesting and it made me ponder what I was doing and what was going on the entire time. Yet after a couple of playthroughs even though I have grasped the core plot and have a decent understanding of the characters I'm still left a little unsatiated by it, which leaves interpretation harder to enjoy as well. In Dark Souls you know full well what you're doing and where you're going but there's plenty to interpret as you go along and you feel quite attached because of this. I can't quite say I felt the same with with Bloodborne. There's also a real lack in NPC story and interaction, there's just enough to keep you involved but not a lot to really dig into and I was sad about that. And as much as I enjoyed the level design it just didn't feel as rewarding as a Souls game because of the lack of items, you start to let out a sigh for all the coldblood and items scattered around instead of nice gear and weapons. The runes are alright but they're not as cool as rings! I'm still really positive about the game and I think it's better than Dark Souls 2 for sure. All I can really say is that Bloodborne is very much an alternative Souls game where you'll love what's different but must accept that it comes with costs, and those costs are things you also liked in Souls games. I know there are people who will prefer this game to Souls and that's great. I really wanted Bloodborne to surpass the Souls franchise but in the end I like it for different reasons, if there's ever a Bloodborne 2 I hope it plays to its strengths. If Miyazaki considers being heavily involved in Dark Souls 3 (of course it'll happen), I'll be very happy. If I had to order my favourites in the "Souls" category it would go: Demon's Souls > Dark Souls > Bloodborne > Dark Souls 2 > Lords of the Fallen Demon's is my first love, I have to pick it above all else. Sorry Lords, you tried, you really did; you gotta separate yourself more or you'll never thrive.

I'm pretty biased in that I think DmC is a terrible Devil May Cry sequel but an above average game in its own right. I barely remember any of the levels in it besides some of the warping that happens. Action games should have some well thought out locations or great set pieces...the only place I really remember is the night club and even that was pretty straight forward. Usually action games are saved by the combat and the boss fights but those weren't great either, the colour coded enemies were more frustrating than adding another gameplay element and the boss fights were complete pushovers. DMC2 falls into this area as well, that game felt pretty bland throughout but at least it was tougher. I couldn't tell you which of the two I liked better. It depends what you're into I suppose. I remember Metal Gear Rising came out around the same time and I thought that was far superior in every way even though it was shorter but even that game didn't really have great levels in it - they served their purpose pretty well. It was completely saved by a great combat engine, the cut mechanic and decent boss fights. I like both DMC1 and 3 a lot for having one large location that you become familiar with, I think Ninja Gaiden did that too but it's been a long time since I played that. Also God of War 3 kind of did that, I remember that being fairly decent throughout and I'm not really a God of War fan. I'd recommend Castlevania: Lords of Shadow if you don't think about it as Castlevania too much. The combat is pretty good and you learn moves and abilities like any of these games, I really enjoyed it and it is quite a big game. If you count Demon's souls and Dark Souls in this thread they are both amazing action RPGs with great level design too.

It baffles me when anyone says this. DmC's level design is pretty standard and boring, it's just overly dressed up with gimmicks.

I rather like remixes/arrangements that feel like extensions of a game or its soundtrack, as if they belonged to it or are catering to what people liked about it. Those to me are ones that stick. I have heard some that feel too different or have too many original parts, sometimes those naturally make me disconnect no matter how much I appreciate the work and creativity gone into it because I've come in expecting to hear the soundtrack I've enjoyed and come out not getting that so much. At the end of the day you make up your own mind about what you enjoy. One of my absolute favourites is Aquamarine by mv from Terranigma: http://ocremix.org/remix/OCR01335 It's one of my favourite games of all time and this remix felt like it brought it to life in a new way without straying from it's original sound too much...which is something that always impresses me. It has some personal touches and adds some things that feel like they belong. The ending is so so but by that point I'm already stolen away. Who knows if it would pass today. Then on occasion I do really enjoy remixes that feel completely to the original but they really have to be memorable enough for me to "get it". One such remix is garlic by posu yan "po" from Castelvania: http://ocremix.org/remix/OCR01776 It really shakes up the style and feels fresh, there's a lot added to it with some nice twists but it never loses sight of the source so I'm constantly feeling like I'm hearing this great jam by someone who loves the soundtrack. Paying tribute like a mo'fo'. I'm not totally familiar with the sources in your track but I thought it was a pleasant listen that could be touched up a little more. With more intimate and laid back songs I do enjoy hearing the all of the acoustic guitar rather than a clean recording of the string notes too (as long as there is not too much production going on). The ending is almost non existent which to me says there probably was more you could do to give your own personal touch and show the artist in you. If this really is more of a straight cover of the songs then yknow there's nothing to stop you putting it on YouTube or wherever and finding an audience, there are tons of people that just want nice performances and covers. But don't be defeated, this probably isn't too far off.